'In Islam, we are allowed to protect ourselves, but you will hardly see an Imam going about with Armed Security Personnel, or Bullet-proof Car

2010-01-31
THE GUARDIAN Newspaper-Alhaji Qasim Alabi

Allowed To Protect Ourselves, But You Will hardly See An Imam Going About With Armed Security Personnel, Or Bullet-proof Car'
(Alhaji Qasim Alabi, Coordinator Dawah Front, Lagos axis)

THE problem of security arises because government has failed woefully to satisfy the yearnings of other Nigerians. The experiences of people whose cars are being snatched on a daily basis go to confirm the fear of insecurity in this country. People who are living in their houses are not even secured. There are thieves, armed robbers day-in-day-out and nobody is actually making any effort to salvage this situation. And that is perhaps why individuals have taken laws into their hands to have their own type of security in place as against what the government should have given them. In actual fact, it will not be an understatement to say that the government has failed woefully to protect the lives and properties of the citizens.

"We have seen cases of armed robbery going on in the neighbourhood that is a stone-throw to the police post but nothing was done by the police to respond to the cries and needs of the masses at that point in time. You now wonder why an individual will not decide to secure himself personally.

"In Islam, it is expected that everybody tries as much as possible to protect himself and members of his family, among others.

"First and foremost, a Muslim should solely depend on Allah his creator. The promise of Allah is that He will be sufficient for whoever fears Him and depends solely on Him. Q65VS3. A Muslim is expected to turn unto Allah when he is in problem and call on Him when he is in difficulty. And of course, if you are a sincere believer, Allah's promise is that He will actually heed to your call. Q2VS186

"Having said that, a true Muslim needs to constantly engage in the remembrance of Allah and this will surely be enough as a form of security for him. As read in the Qu'ran, remembrance of Allah should be done in the morning and evening on a daily basis. Doing this will, no doubt, avert from the person any form of evil. In actual fact, there are some prayers that need to be recited regularly on a daily basis and once they are recited in the morning, a Muslim is free from all forms of evil and same happens when they are recited in the evening as no evil will befall that person till day break.

"However, in Islam, a Muslim is also encouraged to defend himself when he's attacked by anybody at any point in time.

"For instance, if an armed robber comes to your house and you have the means to kill the armed robber you are free to do so. This is because the armed robber came to take your life. If you have what it takes to kill him either by stoning him or shooting him or whatever. In that situation you have not done anything against the law of the country. You are merely defending yourself at that point in time.

"Now, in Nigeria as a whole a lot of people have engaged the services of either soldiers, police, or OPC to guard them. One does not need to be told that your bullet-proof car cannot save you, neither the police or soldiers. Examples abound in Nigeria. Even with all the gadgets America has, people are able to penetrate them security-wise. That actually implies that it's only God that you can turn to at any point in time.

"As earlier pointed out, Allah's promise is that He will be sufficient for whoever depends only on Him. And that was why when Ibrahim (Abrahim) was about to be thrown into the fire by Namrudh (the king of his time), he called only on Allah despite the fact he was offered assistance even by the angels.

"Allah's commandment to the fire of Namrudh is "Oh, fire be thou cool on Abrahim and not burn him." The fire didn't burn Abrahim because he depended on his creator. If, today, everybody in Nigeria - whether you are a Muslim or Christian - has complete trust in God, He will not let you down.

"However, it is allowed for a person on his own, one way or the other to protect himself from any form of calamity and that depends on how you go about it as long as it within the precincts of the law of the country.

"So, in Islam we are allowed to protect ourselves but hardly will you see any imam in anyway going about with armed security personnel.

"Hardly will any imam, go about with thugs and the rest of them because he wants to protect himself.

"Let me digress a bit, in Islam they say Muslims fight Jihad. The question that should be on the lips of everybody is that why should Muslims engage in Jihad and kill innocent souls? It should be mentioned here that Islam is totally against wanton destruction of properties and killing of innocent souls. Even when Jihad is fought for a cogent reason one of which could be self-defence, one is not allowed to kill women, children or attack innocent people.

"One is also not allowed to destroy industries that are beneficial to human beings. One is not also allowed to destroy trees that are beneficial. No wonder the Prophet of Allah asked us to be kind to animals even when they are being killed for human consumption. We make bold to say that under no circumstances is a Muslim allowed to take his life; and one wonders why a Muslim will want to engage in suicide bombing. This point to the fact that most of the wars going on everywhere in the world today is senseless.

"Look at the Jos crisis, the bomb issue of December 25 and a host of others.This is absolutely insane. What is happening here in Nigeria has political undertone. Why should an Imam or Pastor be going about with armed security personnel? This is a big question that leaves much to be desired".